Behind the Book: Betrayed by a Kiss by Kris Rafferty

“Betrayed By a Kiss” started with a memory of the movie, “Marnie”, directed by Hitchcock, starring Tippi Hedren and Sean Connery (in his prime, yum). At its core, it was a story about a woman seeking happiness, billed as a romance, but was so much more. “Mystery! Sex! Murder!” A grifter, damaged by an abusive mother, relegated to being “other” in a society requiring her to blend to survive…and that was only the backstory. She was trying to be happy, struggling against her damage and a turn of events made inevitable by that damage. I was interested in exploring the conflict between who she was and who she wanted to be…in the context of a category romance…because everything is made better if it’s viewed through the prism of romance.

“Betrayed By a Kiss” is my imagining of that character in my world.

Marnie Somerville is sure Dane MacLain is just another bad guy. Her job as resident investigator at Whitman Enterprises is to track down the owners of delinquent accounts, but something about Dane’s case is off, and Marnie can’t resist a good mystery. The secret files and cover-up she finds after hacking her boss’s computer are more than she expected, and now she’s fleeing her former employer…right into Dane’s arms.

Former detective Dane MacLain has spent the last year gathering intel against Whitman Enterprises, the company he believes responsible for his wife’s death. When a beautiful and intense woman shows up with information, Dane is willing to accept all she has to offer, especially when the help comes in such a sexy package. Caught in a deadly cat and mouse chase, Dane must do everything he can to protect Marnie as they run for their lives.

Excerpt from BETRAYED BY A KISS:

Damn. This was his room. She knew it. It smelled of him. She pressed her ear to the door, wondering if he’d follow her upstairs. She heard nothing.Throwing herself on the bed, she pulled quilts that smelled of MacLain to her face and rolled to her side. Thoughts of his hands on her, his kisses—it was all she could think about, all she wanted to think about. She was shaking in reaction, and then suddenly she was afraid.

Reality, the bitch that she was, would not be denied. There was nothing more dangerous than wanting something you couldn’t have. What was she doing? She’d been down this road before. She knew better.

Marnie threw her feet over the edge of the bed, patted the quilt a few times, and then forced herself to do what was necessary. She walked to the bedroom door and locked it for her own good. MacLain’s, too. Then she lay back in bed. She told herself she wasn’t waiting to see if he would follow her. She wasn’t waiting to see if he wanted to continue that crazy, passionate embrace they’d started in the kitchen. She wasn’t. Because then she’d have to care if he didn’t come to the door. She’d have to mourn her fantasies, two months in the making, and set them free despite knowing she and MacLain would be attached at the hip for the foreseeable future. She wasn’t sure which was worse, him not coming, or her sending him away.

Who was she kidding? If he didn’t come, she’d die.

It took five minutes. He tried the knob, found it was locked, and then he knocked. She wanted to open the door. She wanted a lot in life, but there were some things she’d learned weren’t for people like Marnie. Reach for it, and you got burned. Dane MacLain was one of those things. She’d rather burn for him now than be burned by him later.

He didn’t knock again. But once was enough for her. That once would keep her warm, would fuel her dreams and be consolation for things that couldn’t be. She gathered the quilt to her chest and curled up into a ball, wondering how she’d gotten herself in this mess.

About the book:

Marnie Somerville is sure Dane MacLain is just another bad guy. Her job as resident investigator at Whitman Enterprises is to track down the owners of delinquent accounts, but something about Dane’s case is off, and Marnie can’t resist a good mystery. The secret files and cover-up she finds after hacking her boss’s computer are more than she expected, and now she’s fleeing her former employer…right into Dane’s arms.

Former detective Dane MacLain has spent the last year gathering intel against Whitman Enterprises, the company he believes responsible for his wife’s death. When a beautiful and intense woman shows up with information, Dane is willing to accept all she has to offer, especially when the help comes in such a sexy package. Caught in a deadly cat and mouse chase, Dane must do everything he can to protect Marnie as they run for their lives.

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About the author:

Kris Rafferty was born in Cambridge, Massachusetts. After earning a Bachelor’s in Arts from the University of Massachusetts/ Boston, she married her college sweetheart, traveled the country and wrote books. Three children and a Pomeranian/Shih Tzu mutt later, she spends her days devoting her life to her family and her craft.